Amalie Emmy Noether (23 March 1882 - 14 April 1935) was an influential German mathematician known for her ground-breaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics.

Described by David Hilbert, Albert Einstein and others as the most important woman in the history of mathematics, she revolutionized the theories of rings, fields, and algebras. In physics, Noether's theorem explains the fundamental connection between symmetry and conservation laws.

Noether's (first) theorem (proved in 1915, published in 1918) states that any differentiable symmetry of the action of a physical system has a corresponding conservation law. The action of a physical system is the integral over time of a Lagrangian function (which may or may not be an integral over space of a Lagrangian density function), from which the system's behaviour can be determined by the principle of least action.

Noether's theorem is a fundamental tool of modern theoretical physics and the calculus of variations.

One of the famous people on this web site.
Last change to this page
Full Page history
Links to this page
 Edit this page
  (with sufficient authority)
Change password
 Recent changes
All pages
Search